Teologis-filosofista aatehistoriaa uusissa väitöskirjoissa

Simo Knuuttila

Animals in an Urban Context. A Zooarchaeological study of the Medieval and Post-Medieval town of Turku

The aim of this study is to explore the role and importance of different animal species in Turku through an analysis of osteological data and documentary evidence. The osteological material used in this study is derived from two town plots in Turku dating from the 13th century to the 19th century. The osteological material deposited in Turku represents animals bred both in the town and in the surrounding landscape. Animal husbandry in SW-Finland can also be examined through a number of historical documents. The importance of animals in Turku and its hinterland are closely connected and therefore the roles of the animals in both urban and rural settings are examined. The study has revealed the complexity of the depositional patterns in medieval and post-medieval Turku. In the different areas of Turku, characteristic patterns in the osteological material and different deposit types were evident. These patterns are reflections of the activities and therefore of the lifestyles practiced in Turku. The results emphasise the importance of context- awareness in the study of material culture from archaeological sites. Both the zooarchaeological and historical sources indicate that cattle were important in animal husbandry in Turku from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century. Sheep were the second most common species. When taking into consideration the larger size of cattle, the dominance of these animals when it come to meat consumption seems clear even in those phases where sheep bones are more abundant. Pig is less abundant in the material than either cattle or sheep and their importance for subsistence was probably fairly modest, albeit constant. Goats were not abundant in the material. Most of the identified goat bones came from low utility body parts (e.g. skulls and lower extremities), but some amount of goat meat was also consumed. Wild species were of minor importance when it came to consumption practices in Turku. The changes in Turku’s animal husbandry patterns between the medieval and post medieval periods is reflected in the change in age of the animals slaughtered, which was part of a wider pattern seen in North- and Central Europe. More mature animals are also present in the assemblages. This pattern is related to the more pronounced importance of cattle as a manure producer and a draught animal as a result of the intensification of crop cultivation. This change seems to occur later in Finland than in the more Southerly regions, and indeed it did not necessarily take hold in all parts of the country.

Distributed Repositories of Medieval Calendars and Crowd-Sourcing of Transcription

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Exit times for some processes with normally distributed noise

Denna avhandling handlar om metoder för att hitta begränsningar för det asymptotiska beteendet hos en förväntad uthoppstid från ett område omkring en xpunkt för processer som har normalfördelad störning. I huvudsak behandlas olika typer av autoregressiva processer. Fyra olika metoder används. En metod som använder principen för stora avvikelser samt en metod som jämför uthoppstiden med en återkomsttid ger övre begränsningar för den förväntade uthoppstiden. En martingalmetod och en metod för normalfördelade stokastiska variabler ger undre begränsningar. Metoderna har alla både förtjänster och nackdelar. Genom att kombinera de olika metoderna får man de bästa resultaten. Vi får fram gränsvärdet för det asymptotiska beteendet hos en uthoppstid för den multivariata autoregressiva processen, samt motsvarande gränsvärde för den univariata autoregressiva processen av ordning n.

The Cycle Times of Working Capital: Financial Value Chain Analysis Method

Interest towards working capital management increased among practitioners and researchers because the financial crisis of 2008 caused the deterioration of the general financial situation. The importance of managing working capital effectively increased dramatically during the financial crisis. On one hand, companies highlighted the importance of working capital management as part of short-term financial management to overcome funding difficulties. On the other hand, in academia, it has been highlighted the need to analyze working capital management from a wider perspective namely from the value chain perspective. Previously, academic articles mostly discussed working capital management from a company-centered perspective. The objective of this thesis was to put working capital management in a wider and more academic perspective and present case studies of the value chains of industries as instrumental in theoretical contributions and practical contributions as complementary to theoretical contributions and conclusions. The principal assumption of this thesis is that selffinancing of value chains can be established through effective working capital management. Thus, the thesis introduces the financial value chain analysis method which is employed in the empirical studies. The effectiveness of working capital management of the value chains is studied through the cycle time of working capital. The financial value chain analysis method employed in this study is designed for considering value chain level phenomena. This method provides a holistic picture of the value chain through financial figures. It extends the value chain analysis to the industry level. Working capital management is studied by the cash conversion cycle that measures the length (days) of time a company has funds tied up in working capital, starting from the payment of purchases to the supplier and ending when remittance of sales is received from the customers. The working capital management practices employed in the automotive, pulp and paper and information and communication technology industries have been studied in this research project. Additionally, the Finnish pharmaceutical industry is studied to obtain a deeper understanding of the working capital management of the value chain. The results indicate that the cycle time of working capital is constant in the value chain context over time. The cash conversion cycle of automotive, pulp and paper, and ICT industries are on average 70, 60 and 40 days, respectively. The difference is mainly a consequence of the different cycle time of inventories. The financial crisis of 2008 affected the working capital management of the industries similarly. Both the cycle time of accounts receivable and accounts payable increased between 2008 and 2009. The results suggest that the companies of the automotive, pulp and paper and ICT value chains were not able to self-finance. Results do not indicate the improvement of value chains position in regard to working capital management either. The findings suggest that companies operating in the Finnish pharmaceutical industry are interested in developing their own working capital management, but collaboration with the value chain partners is not considered interesting. Competition no longer occurs between individual companies, but between value chains. Therefore the financial value chain analysis method introduced in this thesis has the potential to support value chains in improving their competitiveness.

Geniza-tutkimusta asiantuntijoille

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Understanding outlawry in medieval Iceland

Lectio praecursoria Helsingin yliopistossa 24.5.2014.

Cool Cats Don’t Dig the Squares” - The New York Times ja beat-sukupolvi, opiskelijamellakat ja hipit vuosina 1952-1969

Beat-sukupolvi, opiskelijoiden poliittinen aktiivisuus ja hipit olivat tunnettuja ilmiöitä Yhdysvalloissa 1950- ja 1960-luvuilla. Ilmiöillä oli paljon yhteistä ja ne vaikuttivat toisiinsa merkittävästi. Tätä yhteyttä ei aina tuoda esiin. Tämä tutkielma tuo esiin sen, miten The New York Times kirjoitti ilmiöistä. Tutkimus kertoo myös, miten The New York Times yhdistää ilmiöt keskenään. Sen lisäksi tulee esiin The New York Timesin näkemys ilmiöiden taustoista suhteessa nuorisokulttuuriin. Tutkimuksen kohteena on The New York Timesin lehtiartikkeleita vuosilta 1952-1969. Tutkimuksen pääkysymykset ovat: Miten The New York Times suhtautui beat-sukupolveen ja nuorisokulttuurin muutokseen? Miten The New York Times suhtautui yliopisto-opiskelijoihin ja heidän suhteeseensa nuorisokulttuurin muutokseen sekä miten The New York Times näkee hippien muuttavan yhteiskuntaa? Ensimmäistä pääkysymystä tarkastelen kahden alakysymyksen kautta: Miten beat-sukupolven synty esitetään The New York Timesissa, ja toisaalta millaisen kuvan The New York Times antaa beat-sukupolven vaikutuksesta nuorisoon? Toista pääkysymystä käsittelen kysymällä: Miten The New York Times näki nuorten poliittisen vaikuttavuuden nousun ja miten lehti suhtautui ajanjakson yliopistomellakoihin?. Kolmannessa luvussa tarkastelen pääkysymystä kysymällä: Keitä hipit olivat, ja olivatko hipit poliittisesti aktiivisia vai ei? Tutkimuksesta selviää, että The New York Times pyrkii kuvaamaan ilmiöitä mahdollisimman objektiivisesti. Lehti antaa ilmiöitä kuvatessa asioihin hyvin perehtyneiden henkilöiden esittää ilmiö. Sen jälkeen lehti antaa lukijoiden ja muiden asiantuntijoiden kommentoida. The New York Times näkee näiden ilmiöiden yhteyden ja se tulee voimakkaasti esille laajoissa artikkeleissa. Lyhyemmissä uutisissa yhteyttä ei aina näe, ja terminologia on yleistävämpi, tekstin eri tarkoitusperän takia. Kaiken kaikkiaan The New York Times tuo esiin mahdollisimman vähän moralisoivaa kuvaa ilmiöistä ja tuo esiin niiden keskinäisiä suhteita. Tuloksista näkee, että The New York Times on arvoiltaan vapaamielinen lehti, joka uutisoi, näiden aiheiden perusteella, kattavasti koko Yhdysvaltoja koskevista tapahtumista.

Open Access in Times of Knowledge Unlatched : Cooperative Action for Books and Journals

Presentation at the seminar "Publishers and Funders for OA in Finland", Helsinki, May 24, 2016